nss
by une see
Summary: A series of [NaruSasuSaku] fics written for LJ fanfic challenge comm 50shinobi.
1. 04: inner demons

**A/N**: Written for yet another LJ fanfic challenge comm, 50shinobi. Pairing: Sasu/Saku/Naru. Theme: #04: inner demons.

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**end**

Sakura and Sasuke wonder if this is the end of the line for the three of them, and they can't help but squeeze Naruto's hands just a little bit tighter. They want to hold on, forever, but there is nothing they can do against the flow of time, and facts are facts, no matter how utterly unfair they might be. Roiling red heat smolders on the edge of Naruto's burning skin, shimmering on the other side of tangible, and they think that the man-boy who had dreamed and hoped and loved and fought, the man-boy they had loved, is gone now. Irrevocably, inconceivably, inevitably _gone_.

The beast inside of him, the demon that they have always feared (not for themselves, but for its host), rips apart Naruto's chest, and the last vestiges of his unique humanity float away on the whistling wind, high and screeching, as if it too does not know what to say anymore.

And then, it is over. Suddenly, Naruto, Naruto who has always been warm or hot or scaldingly, unbelievably, unflinchingly _beautiful_, is cold. He is colder than ice (and Sasuke would know), and he is colder than the words that Sakura never said to him all those years ago. His eyes are closed, and why won't he open them again, why, why, _why_? Sakura says to Sasuke, in a voice that he could only describe as _plaintive_, "I just wanted to see his eyes one more time. Just one more time. I wonder if they're still…blue."

Sasuke does not know what happens next, but he blinks once, twice, thrice (isn't that such a funny word?), and Sakura is there, next to Naruto, her hands glowing green in the morbid sunlight, and she is crying as if there is nothing left to do but cry (and isn't that the truth?). Sasuke thinks that maybe he should get up, and hug Sakura, and kiss her neck like Naruto used to do, back when all three of them would roll around in the grass (on that tree on that hill that's theirs only, that used to be theirs, that was always theirs, before all of this _shit _happened) on hot summer days, sweaty and starbursting the colors of the rainbow.

Back then, it seemed like Naruto-Sasuke-Sakura would be forever, would last forever, would take them all into the sun, where their dreams would only be as far away as the distance between Naruto's lips and Sasuke's wrist, between Sakura's hair and Naruto's bare chest, between Sasuke's toes and Sakura's thigh, and more than anything, more than anything, they were happy. But they were younger then, more innocent, and not one of them believes in forever now. Not Naruto (who doesn't believe in anything anymore), not Sakura (who doesn't feel anything anymore), and certainly not Sasuke (who feels more than he ever did).

Sakura is a good medic, more than good, is the best, is a prodigy, is more than anyone could ever have hoped from her, but even she cannot save those who are already dead. Naruto grows colder and colder, and there is no demon inside of him anymore, are no demons inside of him anymore. Sasuke does not move from his position on the ground, not quite far away from his former teammates, but not quite close to them either. This is what has become of Hatake Kakashi's first and only students, and is this their future, after all?

Sasuke breaks the silence of Sakura's sordid sobbing, and he flings words at her that she does not deserve, blames her for letting Naruto die, calls her things that she has never been, laughs and laughs and laughs. And then he is there, wrapping her up in his arms, warmer than Naruto's for once, whispering into her ear that he is sorry, he is sorry. But apologies don't bring back the dead either, and teams are never put back together again. They who are left lift their faces to the dying embers of the sun set against the deep purple horizon, and he who is gone lifts away into the chilly air, scattering ashes across the tilting surface of the world.

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Please review? Hmmm...let's try that again, in a firmer, more commanding tone. Please review. Please? 


	2. 18: dreams

**A/N**: Written for LJ fanfic challenge comm, 50shinobi. Pairing (which, thankfully, even after my many months of absence, hasn't been dropped yet): Sasu/Saku/Naru. Theme: #18: dreams.

**Edit:** Read over it again, and edited. I think I like it better now.

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**look**

Things Naruto dreams of at night, at shadow-dawn darkness when the crimson hue he has come to know as _Kyuubi_ overtakes him in its relentless glory: Sakura's hair, wrapped tight around his swollen phallus, the soft pink strands writhing in ecstasy, as he implodes- explodes- dares to cry out the names of, gone, gone, _gone_...

Naruto's viscous, milky white Hyuuga-eye jism dripping slowly from the sibilant tip of Sasuke's impossibly long, dark pink tongue. His black eyes hazy with desire, and the pale slender fingers reaching out to _touch_, skin and bone and the blood of the fallen...

A look of longing, a look of belonging. A million smiles turned on for him, for the Hokage. For a little boy whose only companion is the screeching wind- for the boy who screams at the empty sky to _believe_, screams till all that comes out of his aching mouth is black, black and black and black infinity- disillusion for the brave. But the sky does not mourn as he does...

Sakura petals on his skin- Sakura on his skin, Sasuke blowing grass into his face, and there is her laugh rising high into oblivion, and there is his almost-maybe-yes-_yes_-smile, and the sun is bright, and- and things are okay. For now, they are happy, and when _he_ arrives to break, they remember how it used to be...

Snow, as white and pure as the day Haku died for Zabuza-_lover_, spiraling around him as the endless sky burns- a melancholy staircase to a heaven he has never dreamed of. Where are they- Sa, ke, su, ra, ku? Where is this place that reeks of beauty carved from the skin of the dead? And Naruto closes his eyes to dream the last...

Her eyes, green and angry, accusing, confusing, suffusing, _losing_- his eyes, black and red and scathing- _let me go_. Sasuke does not beg, and Sakura does not plead, but Naruto- Naruto is not willing to see him leave again. And his eyes are firm, blue as blue as blue as- _always_- three bodies entwine, snake, rhythm and taking, pale skin and raking- they sigh and drift away into a darkly joy...

Ichiraku, the indolent fog of a happy meal, Sakura and Sasuke, Kakashi and everyone- a hopeful shout for the everything-is-possible-future, a drunken Rock Lee, all of them laughing and cheering and groping under the disapproving moon. The greatest shinobi of the age are fallen at the vengeful door of Bliss, and the night rolls on forever...

His face on the mountain next to Tsunade's, its whiskered cheeks nobler than in life- Sakura hugs him for a long, long time and whispers _baby_. Sasuke looks up at the imposing face and says nothing through his thin-lipped smile...

In the swaying silence, Naruto dreams of love, and Naruto dreams of fear, and Naruto dreams of redemption, and most of all, Naruto dreams of three- always, _always_ three. Sakura curled up next to him on one side, Sasuke on the other- their breaths mingle sweet, and sorrow takes no prisoners here. His skin blazes red-hot, and the demon inside him howls in fury, but still- Naruto dreams on. And he wakes with the earnest sun.

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I was sorely tempted to do a J.K. Rowling "All is well" thing at the end. But I resisted (it was hard!), so...review and congratulate me on not succumbing to possibly the worst last line ever created. Well, not really. But still. Review, please! 


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